


The Steadfast Tin Farmer

by zemenipearls (ayaanle)



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Angst, Dark, Dark Fairy Tale Elements, F/M, Fairy Tale Retellings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:22:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23353891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ayaanle/pseuds/zemenipearls
Summary: A Retelling of the Steadfast Tin Soldier by Hans Christian Anderson.CW for some internalized ableism
Relationships: Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa
Comments: 2
Kudos: 46





	The Steadfast Tin Farmer

When the Boy saw the farmer, he frowned. It was a pitiful thing. Unlike the other toys - fearless in their poses and firmly rooted to the ground, this one was damaged, in the boy's eyes. His legs couldn't hold him up, since only one worked properly. He abandoned the tin farmer and his one leg on the windowsill. 

The farmer watched with bitterness as other toys were paid attention to. Lavished. Loved. The sister of the boy sometimes snuck in, and on one occasion made a cane out of a paperclip, so he could stand upright, leaning heavily on it. The sister would play pretend, stealing away the farmer. 

In the soft light of her room, she placed him next to the acrobat. Sculpted midair, one leg arched high above her, the tin farmer marveled. She had dark bronze skin, her hair in a braided bun at the nape of her neck. Like the farmer she balanced on one leg.

The tin farmer wished he had lungs, just to be rendered breathless by her. She was perched just so, so that the light caught her cheekbones. The determination of her dark eyes. He was a monstrous thing, abandoned and wretched. 

The girl returned. 

"I'm naming you Kaz," she said. "Because we have a lot of geese in the yard and you're on the window. This is Inej. She's the most beautiful acrobat in the world isn't she?"

Kaz. It was a name. He didn't even understand names, not really. Either way he didn't care about his own name. He wished again that his mouth would move, so that he could sound out the acrobat's.

_ Inej. _

_ Inej. _

_ Inej. _

Everything about Kaz was unyielding. He had been casted wrong in the eyes of his maker, and his body settled into that wrongness, hardening him to the world. He couldn't force himself to crawl or step towards her. Other toys could slowly move about on springs or wheels. Not him. But every part of him was overwhelmed by her. 

With hands he could carve out everything she ever wanted. 

But there was a jack-in-the-box. Her long, winding neck was graceful and her heavily made-up face looked jealously at the acrobat. The jack-in-the-box collected all the prettiest toys near her - to display and own. And she grew ugly with envy at the love she was given from the toy farmer, from the girl. So one day she sprung out and pushed the toy farmer out of the window sill.

He landed on the ground in those harsh cobblestone streets where it rained all the time. He wondered if the acrobat would even care, if the girl would seek him as he drowned in puddles and let the stream carry him away. Above he could see the buildings, he could see the soles of people walking by, and when he strained, he could see the stars above. They were distant, dim, and often hidden by the clouds dropping the miserable rain down.

_ Can Inej see the clouds? _

Down he fell.

All the way down.

Into nothing.

And darkness.

The darkness was alive - he could hear them in the distance. Jittery sounds, scuffling around. Scritching. An oppressive dampness that soaked him through, that covered him. He had no idea how long he remained there, unmoving, with no hope or thought of ever seeing the surface again. Maybe this was his new dwelling, the gutter. With awful and monstrous things, and the incessant drip of water echoing.

He was pulled out of the stinking sewage water by a rat.

“Look at you,” it chittered. “Little Tin farmer, all alone and broken. Why are you here?”

Kaz was surprised to find he could speak now. What magic was wrought here in the underbelly of all things? Among the shit and stink?

“I was pushed,” he said bitterly. His voice was harsh and raspy. A never-used voice.

“Most of us are pushed here some way or another,” the rat said, curling around the Tin farmer. “Is this the first time you have spoken?”

“Yes.”

“I can give you more,” he smiled. Or maybe he bared his teeth. “I could help you walk. I can bring you to life.”

Kaz carefully weighed this. “Can you bring back other things to life?”

“Absolutely. A sweetheart, then.”

Even with a new voice, Kaz knew to be quiet. 

“Deal. You help me. Then you and your girl will be free. I will call you Dirtyhands. You will call me Pekka.”

* * * * *

Pekka was true to his word. Kaz could walk now, leaning heavily on the cane the Girl made for him. But he was free from the bonds of being fake - he limped along with pride and determination. He could get back to the Acrobat. He could save her from whatever dark magic the jack-in-the-box was wielding. Maybe the magic of the rat Pekka was darker still.

“We create havoc,” Pekka explained as he quickly skittered along the floor. “And we will bring down this city and feast on it.”

Over a year, that is exactly what Kaz helped do. They brought sickness and stole food, creating the kingdom under the ground. But he never forgot the acrobat. As homes were felled he waited for the perfect day to return back to her. When they would both become alive. 

But that was not to be. When Kaz stepped forward to call in his debts the Rat King Pekka just laughed, surrounded by the food and riches brought to him by Kaz’s work. “You will have nothing,” he said. Then he used his tail to push Kaz into the running sewer water.

Water was all he knew. 

He floated endlessly, unable to sink to the ocean’s floor, and unable to kick himself into the surface. Kaz wished for lungs so that he might drown rather than continue this tortured existence. Kaz was at the whims of the cold, vicious currents. After gaining power, he had it ripped viciously from him. When the gaping mouth of the carp swallowed him whole, Kaz let himself rest, closing his eyes. 

Kaz woke to the stench of blood and death.

In the belly of a fish, he wasn’t in water anymore. But he saw the knife coming towards him and curled up, the carcass giving way to  _ sunlight _ . Sunlight he hadn’t seen in over a year - in who knows how long. He had slept, blissfully. What could broken toys dream of? Nothing, he supposed. There were no dreams for him, just the desire to be back.

The house was familiar, and he turned to see the Boy from before. The one who casted him aside the first time. A long series of being cast aside. A Man plucked him up from the fish, frowning. The boy motioned to the rubbish bin, but then the Girl saw him and gasped. Their words made no sense to him - not like the Rat King, who’s voice he could understand clearly. This was muffled.

With a smile the Girl ran upstairs and took him to a sink, washing him clean, and making him a new cane. Then she went back into her room. It was similar to before - with a few more toys. Kaz saw that the Acrobat was there. 

Alone in the room, the Girl returning to her family, he let out a soft “Inej.”

The jack in the box turned to look at him, and that was when Kaz realized it wasn't a toy at all. The features distorted and it let out a harsh laugh. It was a Goblin.

The high pitched, grating voice began to sing. As it did, the toys around her, including the Acrobat, began to move in rhythm.

_ My name is Tante Heleen _

_ I come from the world between _

_ My children await _

_ I open the gates _

_ To horrors and dreams unseen  _

The Acrobat began to move even more frantically, brows furrowed and chest heaving. "Kaz," she mouthed at him. He began to limp towards the monstrosity as it bellowed out more. 

_ I collect the things that you covet _

_ I take before you can touch it _

_ Unless you can pay me _

_ Convince me, persuade me _

_ Then maybe a taste you can get. _

She let out a barking laugh as Kaz fell trying to cross the table, abandoning the cane as he crawled. A teddy bear lumbered as the Acrobat whirled, and a toy horse whinnied. The toys all had frightful looks in their eyes as Heleen raised a slimy, brackish green fist from the box and began to slam it on the table to her song _. _

_ I am the thing of your nightmares _

_ Of monsters and demons, I am their master _

_ You should have stayed away  _

_ Till the end of all days _

_ Cause now you shall be on display! _

The head of the garish jack in the box fractured and out came the demon, with pale green skin and sharp, severe features. It had straw like stringy hair with pointed ears and a small, narrow nose. It peeled back its lipless mouth to reveal sharp teeth. Then it grabbed Kaz and Inej in its hands and hurled them into the fireplace.

Kaz was beginning to melt. So was the Acrobat, but she was smiling. "I'm free of her," she whispered. Then she reached a hand out to Kaz's. The two began to melt together, their hands becoming one. A smile stirred on his face too. Existence had been painful, but it was worth it for this moment. 

The Girl saw a glint in the ashes later and pulled it out, hands becoming stained with soot.

Kaz and Inej, the farmer and the acrobat, had become fused in the shape of a heart.

  
  



End file.
